Tobacco-measuring mechanism for cigarette-machines.



. No. 707,767. Pate ted-Au 26, I902.

a. FERRARI.

TOBACCO MEASURING MECHANISM FOR CIGARETTE MACHINES.

(Application filed m 19, 1902.)

2 Shoets-$heot I.

(No Model.)

i It WKX/wwoM x No. 707,767; Patented Aug. 26, I902.

a. FERRARI.

TOBACCO MEASURING MECHANISM FOR CIGARETTE MACHINES.

(Application filed May 12, 1902.) (No lodeI.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

m: NORRIS FUERS co. PHOTU-LITNQ, WASHINISTDN, n c,

UNlTED States PATENT OFFICE.

GUIDO FERRARI, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

TOBACCO-MEASURING MECHANISM FOR ClGARETTE-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 707,767, dated August 26, 1902.

Original application filed March 21, 1902, Serial No. 99,341. Divided and this application filed May 12, 1902. Serial No.106,867. (No model.)

To (tZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, GUIDO FERRARI, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain newand usefullmprovementsinTobacco- Measuring Mechanism for Cigarette Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has relation to that class of tobacco-measuring mechanism for cigarettemachines in which the tobacco is measured prior to delivery to a tobacco-feeding inechan ism; and in such connection it relates to the construction and arrangement of such a measuring mechanism.

The principal objects of my invention are, first, to provide a simple and efficient tobaccomeasuring mechanism for cigarette-machin es especially adapted for use in a cigarette-machine of the type described and shown in an application for a patent filed by me under date of March 21, 1902, under the Serial No. 99,3i1, and of which the present application is a division; second, to arrange in such a mechanism, below the hopper containing the tobacco, a frame which, in conjunction with said hopper, forms the receptacle or chamber into which the tobacco is fed; third, to provide mechanism for adjusting said frame with respect to said hopper to increase or decrease the size of the tobacco-receiving chamber, fourth, to provide a reciprocating knife and block above and below said tobacco-receiving chamber, forming in conjunction with the chamber the tobacco-measuring mechanism; fifth, to arrange the reciprocating knife in such a manner that the same will cut the tobacco extendingbeyond the receiving-chamber, and thus insure the proper measuring of the same, and, sixth, to provide in connection with a reciprocating slide carrying the knife a coupling-bar adapted to connect or disconnect the slide and knife from a reciprocating block to either permit the entrance of tobacco into the measuring-chamber or to close said chamber by the knife.

The nature and scope of my present invention will be more fully understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming parthereof, in which- Figure 1 is a view, partly in section and partly in elevation, of a tobacco-measuring mechanism and means foractuating the same,

embodying main features of my invention. Fig. 2 is a detail view illustrating in top plan View a frame, a knife and block forming in conjunction with the hopper a tobacco-measuring chamber, and a slide carrying the knife and a coupling-bar to connect or disconnect the knife and slide from the block. Fig. 3 is a rear elevational view,partly sectioned,of the tobacco-measuring mechanism; and Figs. 4 and 5 are perspective views illustrating, respectively, the frame and the slide, said frame forming in conjunction with an extension of the hopper a chamber into which the tobacco is fed, and said slide carrying the knife.

' Referring to the drawings, 77. is a standard upon which a hopper m, adapted to receive the tobacco, is placed. Directly above the outlet-openingm of the hopperm is arranged a shaft m, provided with arms an, adapted when rotated to loosen or agitate the tobacco, so that the same at all times may be readily fed through said outlet opening m The shaft m and arms in receive their motion from a sprocket-Wheel m and chain m from a source of power not shown. The outletopening m of the hopper m is normally closed by a knife n, which is secured to a slide it, clamped to a block 0 by means of a bar M, which engages a groove 0 in the block 0 and 'similar grooves in the lugs 0 integral with travels a roller 0 carried by a link 0, which is connected to a projecting arm 0 of the This block, as hereinbefore deblock 0.

scribed, transmits its reciprocating movement to the slide n and knife 7t. Below the knife 11 and within the slide it is located a frame 19, which, however, is not connected with the V reciprocatingblock 0, but is fixed and adjustjunction With the extension m of the hopper,

a chamber 10, adapted to receive the tobacco coming from the hopperm through its opening m creased or decreased in size by simply turning the adjusting-screw 19 which shifts the frame 19 and the bar 19 away from or toward the extension m of the hopper m, so form ing a tobacco-measuring device by means of which the amount of tobacco to be fed to a lower chamber 71. can be accurately determined. The tobacco, however, can only be fed to the chamber 10 when the reciprocating block 0 and knife n are moved toward the left in Fig. 1, in which instance the chamber 19 is opened at its upper end by the knife n and closed at its lower end by the block 0. The tobacco will fall into the measuring-chamber p and fill the same and be fed into the lower chamber h as soon as the block 0 occupies the position shown in Fig. 1, in which position the opening m from the hopper m into the measuring-chamber 19 will be closed. A certain portion of the tobacco entering the chamber 19 strikes in its fall a rib 0 of the reciprocating block 0, which rib conducts the greater amount of tobacco to the forward portion of the chamber 77. onto the table 71' and a groove 7L3 thereof. Directly above the groove h and within the chamber h is arranged a tobaccocompressing slide 3, provided at its lower face with a semicircular groove 3. The compressing-slide s by means of a bolt .9 and a bushing s is connected with a slide .5 l he slide 8 is pivotally connected to a link 8 connected, as at 8 to a standard 3 secured to a bed-plate a A roller s carried by said link 3 engages a cam-groove .9 arranged in the disk 0 which groove in the rotation of said disk imparts to both slides s and s a reciprocatory movement. In the groove ha of the table h is located a tobacco-ejecting rod 1", which, however, is withdrawn by mechanism (not shown) when the tobacco is fed into the chamber k and by the block 0 is shifted into the groove k By the forward movement of the knife 01, in order to close the outlet-opening m of the hopper m, the same with its cutting edge m will sever or cut ofi all the tobacco, especially such of a stringy nature, projecting above the chamber 19 and will shift the severed portion of such tobacco back into the hopper m. By cutting off the projecting portions of the tobacco an exact measuring of the tobacco in the chamber 19 is made possible, and at the same time a jamming of tobacco between the knife n and hopper m is This chamber 19 can be readily inentirely avoided. In order to cut off the feed of the tobacco from the hopper m into the measuring-chamber 19 the bar at is pivotally connected with the slide or at one end by a screw or bolt 7?, while the other end of the bar 07. carries a button 71 by means of which the bar can ,be lifted from the position shown in full lines in Fig. 3 into the position indicated by the dotted lines in said figure, by which the bar n is disconnected from the block 0. ing the outlet-opening m of the hopper m, comes to a standstill, while the block 0 continues to reciprocate. Such instantaneous cutting off of the tobacco'feed by simply disconnecting the slide n from the block 0 is important in instances where the feeding of the tobacco into the chamber 19 is irregular.

Having thus described the nature and ob? jects of my invention, what I claim as new, and'desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a cigarette-machine, a combined tobacco agitating feeding and measuring in echanism having a hopper, in combination with a knife normally closing an opening arranged in the hopper of said mechanism, a frame provided with a chamber arranged below said knife and adapted to receive the tobacco fed from the hopper and measure the same, a block arranged below said frame and forming in conjunction with said frame the measuring-chamber, and means adapted to reciprocate said block and knife, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. In a cigarette-machine, a combined tobacco agitating feeding and measuring mechanism, comprising a hopper adapted to contain the tobacco, a continuouslyrotating shaft arranged in the hopper, arms or wings secured to the shaft adapted to loosen and to break up the tobacco in said hopper, an outlet-opening arranged in said hopper, a knife adapted to normally close said opening, a reciprocating slide to which said knife is fixed, a frame secured to an extension of said hopper and having a bar arranged below said knife, said extension, frame and bar forming a tobacco-measuring chamber, and means adapted to shift said frame and bar with respect to the extension of said hopper to increase or decrease the size of said cham her and to thereby regulate the quantity of tobacco received therein, substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. In a cigarette-machine, a combined tobacco agitating, feeding and measuring mechanism, comprising a hopper adapted to con tain the tobacco, an outlet-opening arranged in said hopper, means located in said hopper adapted to loosen the tobacco and to feed the same to said outlet-opening, means located below said outlet-opening adapted to open and close the same, means located below and opposite said outlet-opening having a chamber adapted to receive the tobacco fed thereto from said hopper, means adapted to reciprocate the means for closing the outlet-opening The slide it, with its knife n, closof said hopper and means adapted to disengage said closing means from the operating means to maintain said outlet'opening closed and to cutoff the tobacco fed from said hopper into the tobacco-receiving chamber, substantially as and for the purposes described.

4. In a cigarette-machine, a combined tobacco agitating, feeding and measuring mechanism, comprising a hopper adapted to contain the tobacco, acoutinuonslyrotating shaft located in said hopper, arms or wings secured to said shaft and rotating therewith to loosen the tobacco in said hopper, an outlet-opening arranged in said hopper, a reciprocating slide having a knife adapted to open and close said opening, a frame secured to an extension of said hopper having a bar'arranged below said knife, said extension, frame and bar forminga tobacco-measuring chamber, a screw engaging said frame and adapted to shift the same with respect to the extension of said hopper to thereby increase or decrease the size of said chamber and the quantity of tobacco to be received therein, a block arranged below said frame adapted to close the same'at its lower end,a bar securing said block to the slide having said knife, and means adapted to reciprocate said block actuating said slide and knife to alternately open the outlet-opening of said hopper or to close the same, substantially as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GUIDO FERRARI.

Witnesses:

J. WALTER DOUGLASS, THOMAS M. SMITH. 

